29.01.

1874: The Rockefeller Billionaire Dynasty

On this day the Rockefeller dynasty was started by the birth of the richest man in human history. The third generation of that family almost gave the USA a president.

On this day the dynasty of John Davidson Rockefeller, once the richest man in the world, was formed when his first and only son was born. This son was named after his father – John Davidson Rockefeller, only with the suffix Junior added.

John Davidson Rockefeller Junior was, therefore, the only son and the only male successor of his father’s lineage (who was, by some estimates, the richest man in whole human history). Son was equally generous towards charity organizations as his father. Namely, the Rockefeller family had a rule to give 10% of its earnings to church and to charity.

Junior inherited a vast fortune from his father and married the daughter of a powerful American Senator. He had five sons, which all lived to be over 70 years of age and became the famous “Rockefeller five”. Namely, all five sons became prominent and, together, they formed a very powerful network of social contacts.

Of the five powerful Rockefeller brothers, two served as U.S. governors (Winthrop Rockefeller as governor of Arkansas and Nelson Rockefeller as governor of New York). The oldest brother, John, became philanthropists and Laurance Rockefeller became a conservationist. The youngest brother, David, was a leading banker serving as CEO of Chase Manhattan bank.

However, out of five brothers, Nelson Rockefeller became the most highly-positioned, being a Vice President of the United States (serving under Gerald Ford, 1974-1977). On more than one occasion he was even a potential candidate in U.S. presidential election. He was known, among other things, as a friend of Henry Kissinger.